mr. creative :: ridley scott's storyboards

storyboards by ridley scott for the films alien and blade runner.

can i just say that i am so psyched to see prometheus tonight?!

i am not much of a chick flick girl; i basically live for action and fantasy! {as well as the occasional indie and old movie flick} i also absolutely love any movie that looks inspiring. i studied cinematography while at school so when i see shots that inspire me...i'm pretty much sold on the movie. well, this was the case with prometheus.

the other day a thought popped into my head :: just how many films has ridley scott done?! seemed like a million to me - so i imdb'd it of course. as i read more about him as a director, i gained so much respect for his work. did you know that he actually studied graphic design? not only that, but he likes to do his own storyboards - which is really unusual for a director. for the film alien, he earned the film a much larger budget just because his storyboards were so beautifully intricate. as you can tell from the images above.

aren't they amazing?! i love finding these well-rounded, passionate creatives. it makes me feel less foreign in my field. whenever i get down on myself about not having a defined focus in my art, i like to think of these types of successful people.

so my advice is to ::
dabble fearlessly in anything that intrigues you.
& NEVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT DOING SO...
you never know what you will find that sparks that creative fire inside you.

i'm a creative :: i'm not married to a medium and i'm okay with that

sometimes i beat myself up over not being married to one specific medium. but lately, i've been encouraging myself to explore new pathways to expressing my creativity altogether and let me tell you, it's been liberating.

usually when someone has an idea or vision for a shoot it takes half a dozen people to execute it. but as you can see from the photos above, that's not always necessary. especially if you are like me and want to expel the vision and execute it asap and move on to your next creative endeavor. maybe that's not how things should perhaps be but for the sake of convenience and monetary logistics, i think this method works just fine in my book. and guess what? i'm okay with that!

so these fun pics from above...
i pretty much conceived the idea in my head, that morning, ran to the craft store and picked up some vibrant fabric to use as a backdrop, got home, did my hair and makeup, staged the shoot and the rest is history.

the list of creative roles i played in this shoot...
art director, makeup, hair, accessories designer, stylist, photographer, model, graphic designer...maybe there's more. but you get the idea.

so if you are anything like me and feel like you have to experiment with only one medium, i challenge you to try this exercise - and you're not allowed to feel guilty about it either! for the sake of expanding your mind and thinking creatively, this type of exercise will do wonders for your imagination and your body of work.

here we go :: sit down, put on some music and imagine a character in a setting and then figure out a way to execute it and document your idea. get creative - play pretend - don't worry about what others will think! be fearlessly creative and i swear you will feel so much lighter and inspired!

do you ever feel limited by your medium of choice when you're looking to get creative??

creativity unleashed :: my new challenge to myself and my blog

hello and happy monday beautiful people!

i have had a little break from my day job these past four days thanks to my conveniently located chicago office and the nato summit. i cannot remember the last time i took off of work for a non-wanderlustings related reason {which usually entails more work!}. so it has literally felt like i've taken a sabbatical or something.

one of the things i have been struggling with lately has been unleashing my creativity. recently, i get all of these ideas that float in and out of my creative consciousness and i have to put them aside because i am busy with {day job} work or busy with blogging or busy with making jewelry. luckily, i have come to realize that this 'setting aside' in no way benefits myself - so lately i have been indulging it in every way possible.

i have never felt so refreshed, so alive and so true to myself.

it struck me when i was watching a few ted talks - specifically the ones with tavi gevinson and gala darling. they are such inspirational women. they are fearless and unapologetic of who they are. they embrace it. i realized then that i needed to be more aware of who i am and fully embrace it.

well, my entire life i have been a little ball of creativity. making art, playing pretend and creating visions in my head was an everyday occurrence. it still is today - but i became so adjusted to stifling these musings to make way for  what i deemed as more 'productive' work.

so when i began conceptualizing my new line of jewelry for the nyigf this year, i was scared. i hadn't let my creativity run willy nilly since...i can't remember when. it took some getting used to that is for sure.

i think something sparked inside of me when i saw the charles and ray eames documentary called the architect and the painter when i attended the architecture and design film festival this past april. the way charles and ray experimented was dumbfounding. they were fearless, especially charles; handling enormous contracts with no clear end result in mind. he would just focus on the process of creating - not the end result. he would do seemingly absurd things like concentrating on filmmaking even though he was a designer. but what people seemed to miss was the fact that charles was not just a designer - he was a creative truly in touch with his process of creativity and experimentation.

suddenly, everything came full circle for me::
why was i stifling this part of me?
it's okay to do things differently.
it's okay to see things differently.
it's okay to use your imagination.
it's okay to play pretend.
it's okay to just create - for no reason at all.
that's the best part about creativity.
it has no limits. it has no restrictions or rules.
it's unbridled minds at their best.

i've started to look at things much differently. and i must say that i like being who i am - even though to quite a few people it may be 'different.' i like that about myself. in fact, i LOVE that about myself.

so i am encouraging all of you out there to be 100% true to yourself, find out what you may be stifling and take this incredible journey with me. wanderlustings is a purely judgment-free zone as of today. let's be fearless together. have fun with our creativity and keep on wandering our own paths.

from here on out wanderlustings will be about::
- exercising your creativity
- looking at things in unorthodox ways
- embracing uniqueness
- applauding others who are fearlessly unique
- how to build your creativity into a business

i hope you like what's to come!